It is believed that historically the term “pant” was used to refer to one leg of two legged apparel and the term “pants” was used to refer to the combination of both legs of the apparel attached together. It is also believed that in modern times the terms “pant” and “pants” are often used interchangeably in modern times to mean one complete unit of apparel having two legs. Regardless, in this disclosure the term “pant” is used to refer to one complete unit of apparel having a left leg and a right leg, and the term “pants” is used either to refer to one unit of apparel having two legs, or as the plural of “pant,” depending on the context.
Pants, particularly “blue jeans,” are ordinarily made by cutting woven pant material into about ten to fifteen parts that are stitched together, first to form one side of the pant, then the other side of the pant, then to form the complete pant. Those parts are a front right leg, a back right leg, a front left leg, a back left leg, a right yoke, a left yoke, a waistband, a zipper shield, a right front pocket, a right front pocket inset, a coin pocket, a left front pocket, a left front pocket inset, a right back pocket, a left back pocket and multiple—typically five—belt loops. This entails substantial labor and time and, as a practical matter, is ordinarily done at a factory so that the pants are delivered to a store in finished form and multiple, fixed sizes.
When the parts of pants are stitched together, ordinarily the right side pockets are stitched on the front and back parts of the right leg, the left side pockets are stitched on the front and back parts of the left leg, the right and left yokes are stitched to the right and left back parts of the right and left legs, respectively, the front and back parts are stitched together at their respective inseams, and then the right and left sides are stitched together at the crotch area. The outer seams of the right and left sides, respectively, are not stitched together to form enclosed legs until all of the foregoing is finished, as doing so earlier would make the previous steps more intricate.
One way to reduce the amount of stitching required to make a garment is to use a process of multiple layer weaving known as jacquard weaving. In this weaving process, the warp threads are each individually controlled so that the weft threads may be guided above or below individual, or specific sets, of warp threads. This permits double layers of woven material to be produced simultaneously with selected portions of the two layers interwoven. The use of such a process to make a garment is disclosed in Fujiwara U.S. Pat. No. 6,349,750, which describes weaving both the front and back of a garment or shoulder bag by the jacquard process so that the front and back layers are woven together at the outer boundaries of the garment or bag. However, it does not address how to create features such as a pant pocket or a fly, which are traditional to blue jeans, or how to make the final product customized to body fit and personal preferences.
The use of the jacquard process to produce components for the back of a chair, such as a pocket for receiving cushioning material, is disclosed in Zaharakos U.S. Pat. No. 7,350,861. However, the pocket disclosed in this patent is a discrete part which is cut from a web of woven material then attached to other material comprising the back of the chair, and does not address the particular requirements of a pant pocket or pant fly, or customization of an article of clothing for an individual. Similarly, Roether et al. US Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0051712 A1 discloses the use of dual-loom technology to produce a woven bag with pockets, but does also not address the particular requirements of a pant pocket or pant fly, or customization of an article of clothing for an individual.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods of using multiple layer weaving processes, particularly the jacquard process, to produce a pant with a fly and one or more pockets in a more efficient way, particularly a pant that may be custom fit locally, and particularly a blue jean pant.